Woolly Eyed Turtle, in 3D

• Susannah Radford
• 19 August 2015

This article is from 2015.

Absurd comedy taps away at Irish stereotypes

UK-based Irish comedy duo Maeve Bell and Emily Johnson unleash their absurd brand of physical humour in this entertaining comedy about returning home.

Prodigal daughter Noreen is called back from the Big Apple to visit her ailing mother. Set in a wacky care home full of crafty residents and their unlikely carers, the play shows how Noreen, with the help of a turtle, navigates her way back into the rhythms of small-town Irish life.

While it touches on the care of the elderly, Woolly Eyed Turtle, in 3D mainly focuses its attention on gently mocking stereotypes. These include the Irish woman living abroad who manages to find her way home in spite of convoluted directions, the homage to the perfect dinner and the No Sex-line (which takes care of the Catholic guilt).

While some threads of this production could be more fully developed to form a tighter piece, creating a number of endearingly stupid characters is no mean feat. With perfectly judged ham acting, Johnson and Bell individualise each of their creations by the smallest of gesture and the most overt physicality.

Their silliness is so engaging that we find ourselves doing armchair aerobics. Most likely this will prolong our life.

Café Camino, 523 0102, until 29 Aug (not 24), 7.30pm, free.